Tag: crew

Happy late as hell Wednesday folks! I know that this was supposed to post yesterday but a really early call time, some errands and my indecisiveness about what to write about had different plans. SO how are you doing? Are you all working this week? I believe my last day of work till the new year was yesterday. Most the shows I work on go on vacation now for 2-3 weeks. It use to only be 2 weeks but I feel many more shows now are adopting the 3 week option. Which I’m all up for because I always want people to have time off to catch up to life and I feel most people don’t take that time off willingly so this gives them little option. I’m in no means praising that anyone that needs the money will be out of work. I hope you do find employment elsewhere in the meantime. I know those that love to work will no doubt find work in between those 3 weeks to get them through but to those taking the time off, CHEERS! Now let’s get into this shall we?

I feel there is an abundance of tasks that we do in this industry that are outdated, really unnecessary or just dumb and no one seems to want to address them so like usual I thought I’d write about them. First one on deck is assigning someone to load vans. This is usually a production Assistant (PA) like myself or as of late I’ve seem many Transpo people doing it. I work on 2 shows where one of the Transpo Captains…Lieutenant…Capo..I forget what his rank…job title is but they load the vans every morning. This makes no difference because I still find the job a bit ridiculous. Before I get into why let me tell you that there are exceptions to this argument. I’m not saying that the task is always pointless only that I feel since it has been used in these moments that it was necessary and it has since become entwined in our daily duties and it’s just fucking silly as hell. So lets say that production needs a listed account of people getting into vans because of scattered call times, long distance travel or picking up and sending to and from multiple locations then yes I know a person needs to be assigned to coordinate this. However if the company is traveling to the backlot from stage or 2 blocks from the studio I don’t understand why someone would be given this job. I’ve asked AD’s about this and most times they’ll tell me it’s to make sure that all the vans go full. Which is really one of the STRANGEST reasons behind the task of loading because I just don’t understand why we cant just tell the van drivers that. I mean is there a history of people getting in vans by themselves and holding the van driver hostage holding a gun to their head and making them drive without filling up the van? Not to mention that as a PA basically everyone holds a higher title than you so if the scenario came up in which someone got in a van, say the wardrobe stylist, key grip, writer and said they need to go NOW and jumps in the van and demands the driver to drive what is the PA suppose to do? Jump in front of the van? I think we all just need to do a better job of assessing the situation and putting into play these minor tasks when needed and stop incorporating them into our every day routine.

Next! This is for all the Background Actors and Actresses out there. While I’m typically on your side and constantly trying to change the crews shit view of all of you this is one that always gets me. It bugs me because it’s a pretty well-known unsaid rule and with the exception of it being someones first day, they should know. When we break for lunch if there is not a separate line for the Background then please just wait till the crew goes through before you start serving yourself. At the very least ask if you are uncertain if the crew has gone through or not but don’t just jump in there because as fucked up as it sounds in this business there is seniority when it comes to who can eat what and when. It’s sort of very third world country of us when you think about it because if there is anything that most sets are rarely short on its food but still, it’s the industry and culture that we have built and people get all bent out of shape about Background eating before the crew. This is yet another job that at times is given to a PA, food nazi. They basically have to send someone to the lunch area to patrol and kick out Background that attempts to eat before the crew. Doesn’t that sound insane? But it’s a task nevertheless everyone. We currently work in a business where people have priority to eat and are taken out of line when then try to break that hierarchy. I really wish everyone would just acknowledge that it’s just food and how fortunate we are to work in a business that supplies it daily instead of being assholes about who is eating and when. I hate that this is an issue because in no way does say anything good about a person that can become upset about someone else feeding themselves. That type of sentiment would be terrible in a situation where we had no food let alone somewhere we have an entire fucking truck full of snacks, a sandwich stations, a coffee machine, ice cream and every drink you can possibly imagine. Thanks Crafty!

Thanks for stopping by and checking out another post here at We’re Not Rolling. I’ll be back here on Friday with another post before the weekend and then I may take off next week for the holidays but I’m still deciding on that. I’ll let you all know on Friday. Have a great rest of your week and be good to one another.

Happy Tuesday everyone! How ya doing? How was your weekend? Personally I had a great day on Saturday. I spent the day with a friend I hadn’t hung out with in a while down at the beach and we just laughed and talked up a storm for quite a few hours. Continue reading “Union Vs Non Union…FIGHT….”

Hello, hello! Welcome to We’re Not Rolling readers of old and new. How you be? How’s life? Wife, Husband, kids, pets, family, friends? I hope all is well and that life is treating you…fair..we’ll go with fair. Life is a balance of good and bad so I think one should always aim for it just to be fair. Well that just felt like I was about to start a seminar of some sort right? Weird. I don’t know everyone, I just let my fingers start typing as my brain projects these thoughts and I try to get them all written down before my mind is on to the next thing. I’ve actually found myself stopping alongside the road much more often lately because my mind comes up with some crazy idea for the Podcast or Blog that I need to jot down before it vanishes into the deep, smoked-filled, dark wrinkles of my cerebellum. Alright let’s get into this shall we?

Today when I went to Burger King for what has become my routine breakfast spot the last week or so because of the BK coupon sheet I got in the mail. I know some of you fast food haters out there right now may be making yourselves feel sick thinking about BK but I think it’s delicious. This is not a habit that I will continue because I know I can’t eat BK breakfast everyday without gaining 800 pounds. Anyhow today when I went in there the guy asked me what I had planned for the day to which I responded “Nothing, I’m on vacation.” He then asked me how long and I said something along the lines of I’m not sure. We talked a bit more and he started telling me about a few commercials that had filmed at his restaurant. He was amazed at how many people and how long the process took for such little turnout. A good observation that I feel most people not in the industry don’t ever consider till they see a production in full shooting mode and a good topic that I will revisit. Before I left he told me that he was really amazed at all the food that was wasted on the show. He went on to tell me that everyday he would see tons of food from the caterer just tossed out. I wanted to continue the colloquy but he had a customer, my food was getting cold and I liked the topic so much that I thought I’d write about it.

I remember asking caterers before about the wasting of food because you would think with all the hungry people in the streets that we could put this food to better use and one of the responses I got was that it was a legal thing. I’m not sure if this is true but it’s a story I’ve heard from a few people on set and it’s that a catering company was sued for giving out leftovers after a film shoot and getting the homeless person sick. I can see this being an issue but seriously is this the only thing holding everyone back? If it is can’t we maybe figure out a way to do it so the catering company won’t be held accountable. I’m just saying there has to be something we can do because it really is a ridiculous amount of food at times. I’ve worked on shows where we wrapped before lunch and watched 10-20 people go through a lunch line that was intended for 100. That’s 80 people who one show could have fed and instead it all just gets tossed in garbage bins. This is not shit food either, these are 15 dollar plates of food just going right into the trash. Chicken Marsala, Tri Tip, Cookie pie…all right in the trash. It’s a fucking tragedy I tell you. It’s truly heart breaking to have that image in your mind when you drive home, stop at the corner 7-11 and see a mother with her 2 kids hiding alongside the Redbox machine asking for food.

I’ve actually on many instances taken home boxes of food that I intended to munch on later or the next day only to give it away at the first stop light where I see a someone asking for some help. We waste an incredible amount of food in our business and it’s just another one of those things that I don’t understand why. I’m not sure if there is but if there’s any companies or individuals that maybe offer to pick up food that’s getting tossed like this and then delivering it to shelters but maybe there should be. Does anyone out there know of any service of this type and if so why don’t more studios use it. I mean in all honesty I feel that all the big studios like Fox and Universal should have their own type of delivery service that goes around all the shows and collects the food they are intending on tossing and then taking it to a shelter somewhere. I’m actually going to find out about this next time I work at a studio. I mean am I missing something? Is there a legal reason that something like this would not be allowed. I’m just saying together we can all make this world a little better. Our industry loves to pride itself on being innovative and world-changing but we I feel we drop the ball on a lot of simple shit like this and don’t get me started on all the paper we waste…oh wait I already wrote about that wasteful aspect of our business as well. HA!

Thanks for reading everyone! If you haven’t listen to the The Toke Talking Podcast yesterday make sure to check out Episode 33 &34 NOW! I did a few minutes on both about the film industry for those of you that just visit We’re Not Rolling for film talk. Have a fantastic 4th of July, don’t blow your finger off and an even better week everyone and make sure to stop on by Friday for a NEW post and another laugh before you head into the weekend.

Happy Friday! How are you all? Guess who’s back to the grind, the rat race, the ole 9-5 (Only we would be more like 9-9) This guy! Well…at least for 4 days, I’m working today (Thursday), tomorrow, Monday and Tuesday. I think I might have set a record with this last break. I was off for a whopping of 83 days!! How fucking sweet is that? And you know what? I did not miss work or become bored at all!! I’ve said it before that I’m able to keep myself entertained and busy more than most people. I’m sure people who just read how long I was off probably thought “I would be SOOO bored!!”NOT THIS GUY! I’m seriously going to aim to do that every year from here on out to be honest. So far 2017 is shaping out to be one of the best work years I’ve ever had. I don’t mean that I’ve been non stop busy, I mean that I like the way it’s been scheduled, it’s been just right. Alright enough jargon, let’s get into this shall we?

As has been the case the last few weeks I keep getting ideas for my post from conversations that I’ve had in meeting with friends who ARE working since I had not been. However today I was able to muster a bunch of new ideas for post and I can only imagine that more will come to me over the next few days. Although I will say after being off for that length of a run I sort of feel disconnected from the business right now being here today. I mean I haven’t forgotten anything like that, I just have a slight disconnected feeling. HMMMM.. I started writing this post on Tue so this is not from my new stock of ideas that I shall unleash over the next few weeks. Alright SO, someone I know was talking about a paycheck that they were still waiting for. He mentioned that it was now going on 3 weeks since they had worked the gig. 3 WEEKS?! I’m sorry, no, what I meant was WHAT IN THE FLYING FUCKING FUCK, 3 WEEKS?! I’m going to be straight forward before I go any further and say that if you’re the person in charge of paying the crew be it a producer, studio exec, PM, PC…whatever the title, if it takes you more than 2 weeks to pay out people who worked for you, you’re a piece of shit in my book. Sorry if that sounds harsh but I can’t sugar coat it. I feel how I feel and if the person in charge should aim everyone paid in a timely fashion. Which as is usually customary in many businesses is 2 weeks. IF that person knows that they are going to take longer than that to pay out then I feel it would be good to let everyone know that. This would be the only way to defend against this ridiculous business practice that I think happens way too much in my opinion. At least once you’re warned about it then the responsibility falls on you on whether you want or can even afford to work on the gig. Hell 3 weeks might be too long to wait if one is living check to check. I’m guessing they don’t warn people because then they figure that it’ll be tough to find people to work on the job but I think just the opposite. There’s always someone willing to take the job. I have people come up to me all the time when we’re on location that offer to work for free just to get in. These folks would happily come work for your late paying ass. Hahaha!!

Luckily I haven’t had to deal with this in quite some time and even when I did it was not an insane amount of time. I’ve predominantly only worked on Union shows and they all pay weekly, on Thursday…or as I refer to it ‘Employee Appreciation Day’. Weekly paid people don’t Fuck around. I’ve been on sets where checks got head up till Friday because of a computer glitch and people were losing their shit. Thinking back though I think the longest I ever waited for a check was 2 and a half weeks. I’m pretty sure that after the 3 weeks mark I would show up at the production company and not left till I got paid. I’m not a money driven person but when I do a job for someone I expect to get paid. I’m also not someone who lives in fear of someone or some company harnessing this made up power of being able to make sure someone no longer works in this town. I will show up at their office no matter who they are and demand my money and I will gladly like to see someone try to stop me from working in this town. I’ve had someone tell me before that they did not want to call to follow-up on a check because they didn’t want to seem like a nuisance. I don’t share any type of feelings like this. 2 weeks are the most I give someone to pay me before I lose my shit. Then I will gladly and proudly turn into the biggest nuisance of that persons/companies life.

I mean honestly the thing is that the type of person that I am is one that if a company takes 3 weeks to pay me I would never work for them again. I can literally be starving after not working for months and if this company called me for work after I had written them off, I still would not work for them. I know very well that they are just going to turn around and hire someone else and I will still be starving but at the end of it all I will feel better about myself because I actually stood for something that I believe in. I’m attempting to make a statement that would hopefully cause change. I would think that after enough people stop working for people like this they would start to wonder why that is and hopefully one day realize “Oh it’s because I’m a terrible person and paying people 3 weeks after I make them work for me” and then hopefully they change their ways. I know that the likelihood of this happening is slim to none but shit, I feel I need to start somewhere right? I’m also well aware that this person may also NEVER get it because like I stated before one can always find someone to take the job no matter how terrible it may seem.

The one other situation in this realm that I never have had happen to me is a company not paying at all. I’ve had several people I’ve worked with who did a job and then ended up getting stiffed on the paycheck. Some took legal measures which is something I would definitely do if it came down to it. The others just chalked it up to a loss and kept trucking ahead. Let me just say that if you’re able to do this you’re a way better person than I am because I would never EVER chalk it up to a loss. I remember one person in particular told me that it was out of their hands because they had worked on the show in another city. To which I replied I would in all seriousness get on a plane, go get my money, ask them to compensate me for the flight and then if they refused take them to court. HA!! I don’t work for free.

Ok enough about this nonsense already. I think I’ve ranted enough about this topic. Pay your employees in a timely fashion everyone that’s it. It’s not that hard. Thanks for popping in and checking out another post here at We’re Not Rolling. Have an excellent weekend and make sure to stop by Monday morning for The Toke Talking Podcast to start your week off with a laugh.

Happy Tuesday! How’s the world treating you lately? It’s currently Sunday in my writing timing world. I was just sitting here in the living room watching reruns of Fear the Walking Dead just ahead of the new season premier and thought hey let me get started on the post that way I’m not typing on Monday at 11PM at night half asleep. Today is actually a pretty busy day for me, I still need to record my Podcast plus Game 2 of the NBA finals and new episodes of American Gods and Jon Oliver are also on my watching schedule today. YAY SUNDAY!!

EDIT: It’s currently Monday..HAHAHAHA! At least most of it is done.

BACK TO THE POST-

Alright now that you guys are in tune with my plans for today let’s get into this shall we?

Today I wanted to talk about a job title that my roommate brought up the other day and has mentioned before that apparently is becoming a common term and that I just feel is fucking dumb. So naturally as I do all things that I find funny, dumb, ridiculous and angering I thought I’d go on about it on here. A.D.P.A, it stands for Assistant Director Production Assistant. Now, why in the flying fucking hell in all that is ridiculous is this a term that is being used now? There’s so many problems with this that I truly don’t even know where to start with its dissection. Who comes up with these silly job titles? I will say this, the term does come from someone who often works in the commercial world as oppose to network tv or films. I myself have never heard the title used on anything that I have ever worked on. There’s all types of made up job titles I’ve heard throughout the years but this one is really just…I don’t even know what other words to use to describe it. This is not a real thing, why are we adding more confusion to people’s jobs. I guarantee that’s not going to be a title in any credits anywhere ever….MAYBE a student film or something. A.D.P.A…SMH (That’s the first time I use that anywhere, I didn’t know what it was for a while because I’m old…it means Shaking My Head, if you don’t know..at least I hope it does..HA!)

I guess first I’d like to point out just exactly what the meaning of the term is supposed to be. Basically a A.D.P.A is a P.A that the A.D or A.D’s know or trust enough to call an A.D. There’s usually only 2 reasons they won’t call that person an A.D flat out and that’s usually because it’s a Union gig in which the P.A cannot be hired as a A.D or the project is cheap and doesn’t want to pay another “A.D” so instead they’ll call them a A.D.P.A because the cool title will make it seem less like they’re fucking you over money wise when they’re asking you to do A.D work at a P.A rate. They’ll tell you something like, “you’ll get A.D experience”. You know what else comes with “A.D experience?” A.D stress, A.D sleep deprivation problems from little sleep and A.D back problems from being on your feet all day. The difference, the people labeled and getting paid as A.D’s will have money to take time off to release the stress and get some sleep. They’ll have money to go to the chiropractor for their back. The A.D.P.A will still make as much as the other under paid P.A’s and just have to deal with the problems that came with “gaining experience”. Funny enough the trick works because I’m sure there are idiots right now out there whose ego has been inflated because they now think of themselves as A.D.P.A’s instead of P.A’s.

I honestly can’t even believe that I’m even writing about this but it’s partially why this blog even exist, to discuss dumb shit like this AND I’m well aware that it might seem like I myself am just a complaining P.A from reading this one post but you really need to read more than one to understand that I do love the business, I just like pointing out the fun in it. We work with many very serious and uptight people. Alright that’s my random hidden in a post explanation of my ranting reasons for the month of June. I’m such an idiot sometimes. Ok back to business..P.A’s are part of the Production Staff that is run by the A.D’s. The P.A’s all support the A.D’s SO technically every P.A in the production Department IS an A.D.P.A when you really think about it. There’s nothing wrong with having someone lead the P.A’s, in which case you call them the Key. However I think it’s really fucked up that on a show the A.D’s will clearly display who they prefer to be A.D’s and assist them directly by marking them with a made up title. There’s some A.D’s out there that abuse that title a lot and here they are people giving the title(Power) to some maybe disgruntle under paid employee. Does anyone see the potential problem with that? If there is a Key on the gig can you also have an A.D.P.A?

Am I just being too crazy? Should I not let little things like this get to me? I wish it didn’t. I actually find it easier to handle and not over react to the big stuff but little shit like this just drives me up the wall. Maybe it’s because I myself have never cared to be called anything more than what my job has always been labeled as, a Production Assistant. I get no warm and fuzzy feelings in my tummy when I’m labeled as the Key on a gig. It’s just that everyone, a label, get over it and keep it simple. Stop making up more titles that carry no real meaning, it’s confusing and counter productive.

Happy Friday! How is everyone? I had another fantastic week of hanging with my dog and cat. I’m getting a lot of work done on some of my projects which is great. Plus I’ve been learning a bunch of new Adobe programs to work with such as Illustrator and After Effects. YouTube Tutorials can be very handy if you look for the right ones. I will say though I’m considering looking for some day playing days in the weeks coming up. Although I enjoy the time off I think I need a little change of scenery. Some human interaction will do me good, my animals keep looking at me like I’m the guest that over stayed his welcome. What the Fuck? They don’t even pay rent! I have noticed however that cats and dogs sleep a lot. I mean I don’t know what else I thought they did all day when I was gone but holy shit. They put in some serious sleeping hours daily. I’ve joined them for maybe a quarter of them…ok ok..maybe half. Alright, let’s get into this shall we?

Today I wanted to talk a little bit about some of the amazing side jobs, hobbies, projects and whole other lives in some instances that some of the people I’ve worked with have. I always go on about all the awesome people that make up this business and part of the magic is some of their lives when they leave set. These humans not only create entire worlds for directors and DP’s to shoot tight shots in they do other stuff too! Which in itself is amazing accomplishment when one is working 12-14 hours a day. Did I write about this already? Shit! I’m do far in now let’s just go with it. HA! Back to these folks that work and still manage to maintain a life..They work all day and then somehow with the other 10 or so hours they have left they mange to sleep, eat and handle all the other random but necessities of life plus dedicate time to set hobby. How? I mean I know I myself do it but there’s people out there that really have time consuming hobbies. I know someone who built a house. One of those mobile small homes that now have their own tv show. I’ll have to tell this story soon.

There’s many things I love on this earth and one of them is beer. It’s an acquired taste that took me a while to attain but I fucking love it now. And so one of my favorite hobbies that is becoming more common amongst more people I work with is Beer Brewing. It seems like lately every show that I work will have at least one or two beer brewers. I love beer brewers because they always want folks to taste their beer. Again I myself am a bit of a beer snob so they always offer me a few bottles. Free beer everyone. Yet another one of this industries fabulous attributes. I’ve flirted with the idea of trying to brew beer but I need to hold back on the new taking on of projects for a while and start actually finishing these little jobs I give myself.

I’ve worked with Artist, Photographers, Illustrators and Pilots. Pilots! These guys and gals just head to the airport on their days off and soar through the air. I want to do that too!! I’ve worked with people who specialize in altering cars for drifting purposes (See Fast and Furious Movies) and people who restore classic cars. I haven’t worked in many types of businesses in my life but I really don’t think that any industry has the diversity in shit that people do on their spare time than we do. I mean while our schedule might be insane at times it also does lend itself to give us big chunks of time off at times which isn’t really the case in other fields. I’ve been off for a month now, I don’t have many friends that can say they cane do that. Thanks film business for allowing this time off to explore crazy and new experiences and challenges.

I just worked on a show that was very heavy with musical crew people. It seems like almost everybody at some point or another played some type of instrument in our business. However in this crew there were peeps that were part of a band, group, choir or something in the music world. FUN FACT! I use to rap in high school. I recorded a few songs in a real studio and all. One of the guys I know a few months back actually showed me a few of his music videos that he made with his band back in the days. He told me all the crazy ass stories about performing in bars in clubs all over Los Angeles. Now he’s a teamster. How dope is that? I’ve worked with artist that will perform on the weekends or at times right after work. I’ve gone and watched a few of their shows, it’s incredible. I work with comedians who host or perform shows all over L.A after working 60 hour weeks in Simi Valley. I know someone who runs a farm with live stock and would bring in fresh eggs! Hand knitters (Is that a thing?), 3D Printer enthusiast, coin collectors..the list goes on and on. Just truly special people who have this relentless drive to express themselves in many ways. Valuable, talented and amazing people who make up this business and I just wanted to say that I appreciate you all. I’ll never be able to truly appreciate everything that you all do but know that it is appreciated. How about that another positive post here at WNR. Maybe my days of ranting are over….I highly doubt that but it’s a nice thought.

Thanks for stopping by and checking out another post here at We’re Not Rolling. Have a great weekend! If you have a friend whose a brewer see if they want to have you come over for a beer tasting day hahaha! Hmmmm..Make sure to come back this and every Monday to check out The Toke Talking Podcast where you can actually watch me stumble to make coherent thoughts as oppose to writing them. Doesn’t that sound entertaining? I sure fucking hope so because I’ve been doing it for a while now. HA! Take care all.

Happy Friday!! Although it’s really Wednesday. Yeah you read that right, responsible good ole Lou here is writing this thing 2 days ahead of my deadline. Ok, I can’t lie the only reason this is even happening is because I’m at the DMV waiting for my number to be called. YAY! In all actuality I don’t have any DMV horror stories. I know people complain about the wait constantly but there is literally a wait line monitor online that you can look up, at least there is here at the DMV’s in L.A county. It might be 10-15 minutes off but other than that it’s always worked for me OR just make an appointment which is what I usually do. Anyhow, you didn’t come here to listen to me go on about the DMV so let’s get into this shall we?

Everyone loves taking pictures myself included if you can’t tell from any of my social media platforms. I have 13,000 pictures alone on this phone that I’m writing this on. At home I have hard drives and boxes full of even more pictures. Yes you read that right, I own “boxes” full of actual pictures that I printed. Remember when we use to actually print these things everyone? I do miss dropping off rolls of film to get them developed in an hour. I’m not a person that likes to wait but this was one of those fun waiting times. I was always excited to pick up my pictures to see how they came out. On set however this isn’t always a welcomed practice or so it may seem. I’m not saying that one should take photos while on set all willy nilly. There is definitely rules to abide by especially when taking pictures on set and if you’re thinking about posting pictures anywhere that’s a whole separate conversation that I won’t get into on this post.

I want to talk about this assumption that most Crew people have that taking pictures with the talent is somehow unprofessional. Why? Is it also unprofessional to take pictures with coworkers at any other type of business? I know there are actors/actresses that don’t like to take pictures and usually production warns us about these selected “special” individuals but besides them I really don’t think there is anything wrong with it. I’ve actually asked quite a few thespians if they minded taking pictures and if they found it unprofessional to date not one has said it was any type of bother to them and I haven’t been told not to take pictures with them by anyone. Sure they could be lying to me because I’m putting them on the spot but like one actor told me “It’s part of the job”. I don’t take pictures with every single actor/actress I work with but I have definitely taken photos with people who I was a big fan of. I’ve worked with a few people who sent my geek meter sky rocketing and I just had to memorialize the moment. If I hadn’t I know I would regret it.

I work with a good friend who was working on a commercial where someone was fired for taking a picture with talent. FIRED! What in the flying Fuck?! Are you serious right now? Someone lost their job because they took a photo with someone they admire. I’m sure this has happen a lot during the history of our business and I just need to ask, was it really that serious? The tough part about situations like this are that we never really know who did the firing. Was it the actor or actress that asked for them to be fired or was it some over achieving assistant or producer that wanted to display their “Authoritay!”?

Typically I tend to go with the latter. I don’t have any hardcore proof but I just know that it’s commonly the people around the talent that will make shit like this happen. I think actors/actresses just get the blame put on them because they know that no one will question it in those cases. No one is ever going to go up to the talent to ask if they wanted someone fired because of the fear that if it is true then they too might get fired. It’s a nice little pocket of protection that these assistants and producers have made for themselves. Again I have no proof to back this up I just have a gut feeling after many years of observations and witnessing some firings, not because of pictures but because of similar reasons that dealt with the talent. I think this because most talent that I have worked with over the last few years that I HAVE been warned about their attitude or told things like just stay out of their way, they’re complicated…have been false. I actually found out that they were great people and that it was just the personnel around them that were the ones making up these silly rules causing everyone to walk on egg shells all the time. Although I’m also aware that some of these assistants and producers might be getting told or treated different by the talent behind closed doors. What I mean by that is that maybe while I may find the talent to be nice, in reality they are horrible people who are just hiding it from the open world and only show their true selves to that producer or assistant therefore making them look like the monster in our eyes. I know this also happens but all one can do is assess their particular situation and make a call on who they believe. I’ve worked with way more complicated people AROUND the talent than the talent themselves.

I’m sincerely asking is there anyone out there that asked someone to take a picture with them and they said flat-out just said “No”? I just find that to be so insane and I’ve never seen anyone actually say it. I’m sure it’s happen I just want to listen to the story. I want to know exactly what they said. I can only think of one instance in my life where there was a famous person and we were told not to take pictures of them. That time was when I was about 11-12 years old and we were at a hotel where Mike Tyson walked in. I find it fascinating that another human would actually oppose taking a photo with someone else. It literally takes about 10 seconds. In this particular instance I understand Mr. Tyson not wanting to take 60 pictures with fans that just surprisingly turned up somewhere but if you’re a crew member hanging at crafty talking to the person and ask for a picture I think that’s alright. HOWEVER if you’re new to the business don’t take this as a helpful hint everyone. While I try to offer some light into the inner workings of our business at times I cannot change them. There will always be craziness in our industry and there is a chance you might be fired for asking for that picture. I guess in the end it comes down to this simple thought, is the person really worth the picture? I will say this, the “Risky” pictures I have taken with people who I was warned about have definitely been worth my job because I look up to them that much. When I’m an old man who can’t walk anymore I’m going to cherish that picture a lot more than I’m going to care about the job that it cost me. Jobs will come and go but important, memorable moments can’t be relived but they can be captured.

Thanks for stopping by and scoping out another post here at We’re Not Rolling. I’ll be back on Monday with an all NEW episode of The Toke Talking Podcast, a show I host here on the website. It’s not exclusively based on the film industry but since it’s part of my life I don go on about it on times and usually have guessed with me that also work in the business. Have a great weekend everyone and I’ll write to you all again on Tuesday!

Happy Tuesday! Before we get ahead of ourselves no, I don’t have free stuff to give you. I actually contemplated calling it FREE STUFF HERE..but I held back. I wish I did have free stuff to hand out…hopefully one day either this blog or podcast or something will bring me some money and then I can give out stuff to my 100’s of adoring fans. Hahaha! I’m such a nincompoop. Someone called me that today and it reminded me about how much I love that word. It’s one of those adorably funny insult name words. It’s sort of like “Fool” only slightly more adorable. I remember when “Stupid” use to be funny. Hell, we had a friend whose nickname was “Stupid High”. The name still can be funny in the right circle but call the wrong person “stupid” and you’re in for a long defensive rant on why it’s not ok to call people “stupid”. I feel like lately everyone is so turned around with all this NOT NORMAL SHIT that’s going on, what’s ok to say and what’s not ok to say that we are losing the fun of jokes. I’m strictly talking within a persons group of friends though. I still think you should feel out any group before joking about anything anyone might be touchy about which now days are getting to be a very large list. Times are just a little tense right now. I’m Cuban and while I always found it funny every time I get into a raft of any sort at a water park, pool or beach and most Cubans can see the humor in it like my friends. I am willing to bet right now that there is some Cuban woman losing her shit at a resort because they offered her a raft for the lazy river and she felt she was an insult to her heritage. That was a LONG intro. Reading is fundamental right? I don’t know about reading my shit but still it’s reading…even if it is a terrible use of grammar you can learn from my mistakes and therefore write better that me. I. GOT. YOU! HA! Let’s get into this shall we?

I love free stuff. I’m pretty sure that’s a sentiment I share with most folks which is nice because it makes me feel normal amongst all the other crazy thoughts and feelings that I think I don’t share with the common every day Joe or Jane…Is it Jane? Is the female equivalent of “Average Joe” “Average Jane”? I know it’s John Doe and Jane Doe. What am I talking about? Shit! Alright back to it. One of the perks of working in this business is definitely all the free stuff. I believe I did a post on swag like wrap gifts and shit like that but I’m talking about all the other free stuff. I’m talking about the 9lbs of Nutella that Crafty hands you on the last day because if not it’s going to go bad. I’m talking about the prop beer mugs and the “prop” beer. I’ve seen set pieces like rugs, chairs and tables that were bought for a commercial go to crew people all the time. The caterer at times will wrap up 25 pieces of fried chicken for you to take home after lunch wraps up instead of throwing it out. There really is an amazing amount of free crap that we get working in this industry.

When my roommate and myself were working on Music Videos I remember our kitchen most the time would look like crafty. We would have a 3lbs tub of pretzels and twizzlers all the time. We would aways have 2-3 cases of water and muthafuckin SHASTA! If you don’t know what that is you should google it. We never stole the stuff, it was always just handed over to us at wrap by production companies. They would usually scavenge through it to take what they needed for the office if they had one but other than that most the time it was a free for all. I remember there was a time there that we did not buy trash can liners for like 8-9 months. Believe it or not that all adds up over time. Little things. All about the little things.

Although through time one does learn not to just blindly take free stuff. At least I did. I remember back to year 1,2,3 in this business I wouldn’t hesitate to take anything that was free. I would love wrap time just because I knew I was going to be going home with a bunch of free stuff. I didn’t care how useless it might be. Look at this portrait of a stinger (Extension Cable for those non industry folks)

I got this on a show about a year or so ago and it’s just been sitting in my living room. Why I took it when it was offered? Because it was funny. Why do I still have it? Because it’s printed on a very nice canvas and I feel bad tossing it. Plus maybe there’s like a hard-core 728 loving bastard out there that wants this bad boy for their 728 themed living room. If so hit me up in the comments, email or any of my 100 social media outlets. You need to come pick it up though. Geez look at what this thing has become, a freaking craigslist add. Talking about stingers when we first moved into this place we had came into a slight problem when we had our first pool party, there was no power for the music. Luckily I actually have 300 feet in stingers that I got at a backstage sale. I also have 8 director chairs that I bought for $6 each, 13 folding chairs that I got for free and like 15 layout mats. Hahaha! That gear right now has helped me host about 20-25 parties at my place. I tell you folks it really is like living a dream…

Thanks for stopping by and checking out another weird and wacky post here everyone. I recently just hit 6000 views here at We’re Not Rolling and I sincerely want to say thank you to everyone that’s “Stopped by”. If you have not listened to yesterdays podcast please make sure you do. I had on 2 actor friends and went on and on about not only the film industry but also the music industry..OOOOOOOhh..look at me getting all diverse on my show. HA! Don’t be fooled it’s till me stumbling over my words as I try to formulate a thought while reading my plans for the show that looks like chicken written scratch..that’s worse than chicken scratch by the way. It actually entails strapping a pencil to a chicken and having them try to write for you. However it was a very fun and entertaining episode and I think y’all will enjoy it. Have an excellent week of work and I’ll talk to you all again on Friday.

Happy Tuesday! How’s it going? Everyone have a nice weekend? The weather has been fucking insane out here in La La Land..Which I want to say that I enjoyed saying till the blasted Movie came out. Yeah I said “Blasted”. Now it seems like I’m just saying it because of the movie which is bullshit. I haven’t seen that flick but if it doesn’t deal with the insanity that is Los Angeles and all its looney inhabitants then they’re misusing that nick name in my opinion. Is it called La La because they sing? I’m going to continue to ask questions on here till I get some answers and if not hopefully I’ll have answers to them when I read this crazy thing in a few years. Alright enough ramble let’s get into this shall we?

Today’s topic came to me when my roommate referred to a scene in the new Guardians of the Galaxy movie to a real life experience he had on set. This is not a spoiler. However I won’t explain it just in case you’re freaking out. Instead I’ll tell my buddies story and those of you that have seen the film can make the connection. SO, he was on set a couple of weeks ago and someone asked him to get some tape. He decided like many to go to the closest person who had tape and ask for some. Little did he know that this is the film industry and things that at times would seem very simple are made incredibly tough for unforeseen reasons by for a lack of a better term, crazy people. My roommate asked the guy if he could take some tape and then came the questions. What’s it for? Who’s it for? The guy ended up not giving him the tape and instead sending him to someone else who had the same type of tape but for his department. Tape. Fucking. Tape. He wasn’t even asking for a roll, just a piece. Why are there people like this in our circus everyone? How do they continue to work?

I’ve worked with a lot of people who will come up with the toughest way to do a simple task. When I started working a few years ago I would be hesitant to say anything because of the chain of command and all that but after a while I just found it too annoying to deal with. It’s not fun to work harder than we have to because someone who lacks planning skills to achieve an easy task got placed into a position a power. It’s rarely anything big, it’s usually small tiny shit. For example here’s a great one. I always have people come up to me to ask if I’ve seen someone. Now this is a normal question that I get asked often. I’m all about efficiency at work. I feel a lot of us in this business preach this but don’t really follow it. When someone comes to me looking for someone my immediate solution as should be everyone’s is to get on my walkie and ask. This is the fastest way to find this person for you because it maximizes all my resources. Which is everyone that is listening. With their help hopefully I can find this person for you in a matter of seconds if not minutes. HOWEVER what happens way more often than it should is as I go for my mic they will stop me and say..”NO! Don’t ask on the radio.” Alright let’s think about this for a minute here and what this person is REALLY asking me to do by taking this action. They didn’t just come to ask me to HELP them find someone for them they came to ask me TO find someone for them. Which I say..What the Fuck man? Look if you have something personal to say to someone then you go look for them. You don’t ask for assistance. Efficiency.

Here’s a great story of quite a few people making a very predictable and simple situation tougher than it would’ve been. I worked on a Music Video out in Venice Beach and we were filming close to the water. As the day went along and equipment moved all over the place the last place it landed before the crew walked 100 yards away from it to get set up for a sunset shot was a little too close to where the tide was starting coming in. We walkied the crew and told them of the pressing matter to which they responded “It’ll be fine, this shot will be quick.” Well it wasn’t quick and that tide started coming in real fast. So fast in fact that before we knew it there was 5 people with shovels trying to dig a ditch to catch the water before it got to the equipment as 5 other people rushed to move all the equipment while everyone else on the crew continued to work on this sunset shot because well..you kinda only get one. HA! It was literally one of the first times that I felt I was fighting mother nature. Here she was trying to bring in the tide and 5 of us relentlessly digging a moat to try to stop her fury. Hahahaha! That was a very fun sentence to write. This is the type of shit that happens in our business at times. If they would’ve just listened to the warning and moved everything we would’ve avoided this madness. I mean I guess there’s madness everywhere. It’s the people. There always seems to be some dimwit in charge that got the job because of who they know, who they are related to or just has money and bought their position and as the “Employee” I feel we don’t speak up at times. We just follow the madness blindly. I mean hell, it’s happening in the White House right now. Come on we all know it.

Look I know we all like and want to lead but being a good leader also entails using the people around you and their strengths. There’s always going to be a better way to do something, that’s how we evolve. Let’s stop letting our egos get in the way and try to accomplish the task using all our resources instead and stop making more work for ourselves and others. My apologies, I’ve been watching a lot of 80’s cartoons that had those positive messages at the end and I think that’s why I keep wrapping up these things on these strange positive notes. I’m sorry everyone I’m not trying to teach you anything here. If I’ve learned anything it’s that everyone is going to do whatever they want. I just want to bring you something to think about that will hopefully make you laugh the next time you see it happen.

Thank you for stopping by and checking out another entry here at We’re Not Rolling. We hope you enjoyed your stay and hope that you come back to check us out not only today but every TUE and FRI for NEW and funny posts. If you’re really adventurous make sure to pop over on MONDAYS and check out The Toke Talking Podcast. A show I host where I TALK about working in the business amongst many other topics as oppose to writing about it. It’s mixed in there so if you’re film industry talked out don’t worry the podcast has plenty more to offer. Alright people, have a great week and I’ll write to you all again on FRI.

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Welcome to We’re Not Rolling

Hello all! Welcome to my blog. I started this crazy thing because I've been working in the film industry now for several years now and I needed an avenue to tell some of the insane stories and adventures that I've been on during that time. I also needed to vent about some of the ridiculousness that goes on in this crazy circus that we call a job. I won't ever use any names or specifics so if you're looking for industry gossip this is not the blog for you. I apologize if anyone is offended by anything on here but seriously it's my opinion, no one is telling you to read it. I love working in this business and could never imagine doing anything else, even if it sounds like it makes me crazy at times. It's fucking awsome! Hope you enjoy the rambling and if you got any suggestions let me know.
-PEACE